Monthly Archives: March 2006

I keep reading in the news that United States President George W. Bush maintains his claim that the removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from office was sufficient justification for the American military attack on Iraq. I feel extremely upset over this issue so I will try to make my response brief. Even as I have to depend on largely ‘managed’ news reports as to what is happening in Iraq several things have become very clear. Although the US government and their military forces apparently do not care enough for the lives of the Iraqi people to even bother to count the numbers of Iraqis they have killed, given the available information it would be difficult to believe that less than 100,000 Iraqi citizens, and probably many more, have had their lives stolen from them as a direct result of the murderous American military attack on Iraq.From my knowledge of Iraq before the American attacks on their country I have no doubt that that there are few areas in the life of the ordinary Iraqi people that are better now than they were before those brutal attacks. In polls the Iraqi people and many members of the present Iraqi government have left no doubt that they believe the American attacks on their country and people, followed by a brutal military occupation of their nation, have resulted in a severe deterioration in most aspects of daily life. Whatever good, if any, that has come from the American attacks on Iraq pales in comparison with the massive harm wrought upon the nation and its people.

I find it just so incredible that here in the 21st Century the governments of the world, supposedly represented and given voice by the United Nations, would remain relatively silent as they accept or at least permit one very powerful country, the United States, under no known threat from another almost helpless country, Iraq, to make such a costly and lethal military attack upon a mostly innocent civilian population. How can the lives of 100,000 or more Iraqi people, virtually all of them innocent civilians mean so little in the eyes of the world’s governments? I am truly appalled by this great and cruel wrong that has been perpetrated directly upon the people of Iraq and indirectly upon all the people of the world. For the survival of the human race we must have peace in the world, and we are never going to have peace in the world when there is a nation among the society of nations that is willing to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings to achieve their goals regardless of whether those goals be envious or foul.

I say to you my dear Muslim brothers and sisters; we must make sure no more military attacks such as the anachronistic American attack on Iraq ever happen again. The human race has been placed here by Allah with a purpose of such immense importance that we cannot allow selfish nationalistic ideologies to endanger Allah’s Plan for His Creation.

Punishment is always harmful to the child even if it seems to achieve the parent’s goal. It is impossible to punish your child without harming him/her. Research studies in child development have consistently shown that among the undesirable side effects of punishment are:

The child will try to escape from or retaliate (fight) against the punishing situation.

The child will have negative feelings toward whoever punishes him/her.

Punishment usually remains effective only when the possibility of punishment is clearly present.

And, very importantly, punishing a child teaches the child that using punishment is the right way to raise children so they are likely to use punishment with their children – thus perpetuating (continuing) forever the use of punishment in society.

The alternative to punishment should not be permissiveness (meaning to let your child do anything they want), if there is anything more harmful to the child’s development than punishment it is permissiveness. The right alternative to punishment in raising a child is called “directed positive influence.” Directed positive influence means to reward (with praise, your positive attention, or an occasional small gift) your child after they do things that are good and right, while gently providing correction when your child does wrong. In Islam if it becomes necessary to correct your child for some wrongdoing this must be done according to a certain rules:

First, you should explain to your child in a gentle way how they have overstepped some limit from rightness into wrong, explain how their behaviour is not consistent with the Will of Allah and offer them guidance as to what Allah has told us is the right way to act.

Second, if the gentle instruction does not result in the child correcting their wrong behaviour, you should indicate your disapproval of that wrong behaviour by withdrawing your favour (for example, do not give smiles, hugs or kind words to your child at such times).

Third, and only as a last resort, your child can be physically punished (beaten) if they do not correct their wrong behaviour.

In Islam, while you are allowed to beat your child it is most certainly not encouraged. If it becomes necessary for you to beat your child there are specific rules and limitations:

You may not hit your child on the face or stomach.

You may not hit your child more than a maximum of three times.

And, you may not hit your child hard enough to leave a cut or bruise on the skin.

Additionally, You should never hit your child when you are angry. Not only are you then more likely to become excessive in your punishment, but doing so will teach your child that it is right to hit people when they are angry. It is important to realize that if you reach a point where you feel it is necessary to beat your child then something has gone badly wrong, and you previously have not done all you could have done to avoid this becoming necessary. Since it is a fact of learning that you cannot punish a child without harming him/her, so punishment can only become necessary if you have no positive alternative, and the good that comes from being punished will outweigh the harm you do to your child. Remember, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) never once in his life hit a child, a woman or a servant.

Many believe that everything which happens is the Will of Allah – that is of course true, but we should not think all that is the Will of Allah is what Allah would 'want' to have happen. Allah has imbued all physical matter with some degree of free-will, that portion being allotted in varying amounts based on the complexity of the organization of that physical matter. It is the Will of Allah that some actions be due to the exercise of free-will, and it is the nature of free-will that its exercise will result in some of these actions being what Allah would 'want' and some of the actions not being what Allah would 'want'.

Matter at every level of complexity has certain orderly rules it must follow. Within the parameters of that order there is allowed an expression of free-will. That is the 'choice' within the 'necessity'. The free-will aspect is perhaps described by 'chaos theory' and at its most basic level is governed by quantum uncertainty.

When Allah creates the human being to be His Khalifah on Earth Allah gives to the human being the responsibility to ensure the continued successful completion of His Grand Cosmic Plan. This responsibility as Allah’s Khalifah is no small matter since it ultimately includes all of Allah’s physical creation in its progression toward spiritual perfection, and of course requires the ability to utilize many attributes and powers by Allah’s Khalifah to be successfully carried out. After selecting human beings to fulfill this most glorious role as His Khalifah Allah of course ensures the human being has all the qualities necessary to successfully carry out the responsibilities of this role granted us by His Mercy. Allah provides us with these necessary qualities when He breathes into the new human being, still in their mother’s womb, a God Consciousness. This breathing in of Allah’s Spirit includes the opportunity to use a sufficient number of Allah’s infinite attributes in some small degree of their power which is necessary to allow the human being to act successfully as His Khalifah.Compared to the powers allowed to be utilized by the animals the powers granted human beings by Allah, so we can successfully carry out our role as His Khalifah, are of such great magnitude as to make us virtually super beings in comparison. We are granted the use of sufficient attributes and powers that already allow us to transform our planet, and we are on the verge of being able to transport those magnificent abilities from our planet out into the greater universe.

To be a true human being must include the realization of the full meaning and responsibility that comes with that most homoured role as Allah’s Khalifah. By giving us the use of these attributes and powers Allah has subjugated all of nature to the human race. This subjection does not give us the right to manipulate and exploit nature to our will, but requires us to exercise dominion over nature in such a way that leads nature to continue toward the spiritual fulfillment of the whole of Allah’s physical creation according to His Will. To carry out this role as Allah’s Khalifah successfully is the purpose for which we were created, and is the means by which we can attain Paradise after our brief travail in this material world.

If we human beings do rightly carry out our majestic responsibility to ensure the successful fulfillment of Allah’s Grand Cosmic Plan using the attributes and powers granted us only for that task then all will go well. Individual life will be happy and successful and the society of human beings will be happy and successful, both in this physical realm and later in the spiritual realm. The great worry though, since to be Allah’s Khalifah requires us to be granted a virtually unlimited degree of free-will, is that we may not choose to use the attributes and powers granted us rightly and instead of utilizing our ‘super’ qualities in the service of Allah to carry out His Will we could make the greatest mistake ever possible to make and use those attributes and powers to fulfill whatever sordid and degenerate desires that may arise from out darkest recesses of our character instead of using them solely in the rightful service to Allah.

There could be no more dangerous creature on earth than a Khalifah of Allah who no longer acknowledges his created nature to be the servant of Allah and sees himself owing no allegiance to his Creator, but has allegiance only to himself. Such a creature is in possession of a power for destruction that is truly Satanic in its nature. A human gone so wrong wields, for only some short time until the damage caused becomes irrevocable, a virtually godlike dominion over the earth and all that inhabit our cherished planet because this perverted dominion is devoid of the loving care which Allah displays towards all His creatures and which loving care Allah requires His human Khalifah to also display toward all of His creation. A Khalifah of Allah lacking in the required love and caring toward all of Allah’s creation will surely destroy himself and his kind, thereby forfeiting all possible opportunity to assist in bringing Allah’s Grand Cosmic Plan to the fullest of its spiritual completion.

I say to you my dear Muslim brothers and sisters, if a way can not be found to bring every member of the human race to the point where they are living good and right lives in full accord with the Will of Allah then we will not be able to complete the responsibilities of the role for which we were created. Our spiritual development will come to an end and Paradise will not be the culmination of our material existence. I understand that this will be a difficult realization to accept and an even more difficult task to execute, but for both the worldly and the spiritual future of all human beings there is no acceptable alternative but success.

As soon as possible after your child does something good comment on that thing (be specific as to what the good thing was), and give your child praise for having done that good thing. Example – Your young daughter falls, hurts her knee, and begins crying. Your son seeing this goes over to his little sister, helps her get back up, and comforts her. Having observed all this take place you go up to your son right away and say something like,

“I saw you help you sister get up after she fell and then tried to make her feel better. That was really nice of you to do. I feel good to have a son who loves his sister so much.”

Also say to your son,

“Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala will be very pleased with you for helping your sister.”

Things to remember…

Give the praise as soon as possible after the good deed.

Say specifically what the good deed was.

Give the praise sincerely and in a loving manner.

Have variety in how you give praise, don’t always say the same thing.

NOTE – Notice how in the above example the praise given had three parts. First the mother told her son what he did was a nice thing to do, second she told him how it made her feel good, and third she took the opportunity to let him realize how much he loves his little sister.